Growing Family Peace, llvl

We never spent a lot of time together growing up — for whatever reasons. I’m sure part of it (and I inherited this from her) my grandmother didn’t deal well with chaos. Too many evans/bennett kids in one place = chaos!

It took family losses to bring us together. Death, divorce, more death. The more it happened, the more insistent we became that we gather.

And so we have, in whatever groups can get there… we usually eat… depending where we are, we might drink champagne… and we always laugh… We have a wedding coming soon, what joy… and then we wait a while while the kids grow up a bit… but still we gather.

I wish i knew how to bring the California families into this… and how to spend more time with the California families… life, it is what it is. sigh. But what it is is sweet — at least from time to time when we can make it happen. Let’s all make memories while we can…

Love, it’s what we need. And when faces we love look back at us with faces that are very like ours, it’s pretty wonderful. I had to wait 50 some years to get it, but i’ll claim this as mine — and as wonderful. Peace sometimes looks just like you, and isn’t that grand!

A Film, An Afternoon, Some Peace, llvl

If you know me well, you know I’m not a movie person. If I do go to the movies, pretty much guaranteed to be light and fluffy. Mostly because I can tell myself “it’s just a movie,” all I want, but my brain’s still seeing whatever horrible thing (psychological or physical) that’s happening on screen. Sadly, it’s pretty true with books as well. I don’t have great boundaries, I guess.

And I work hard at those boundaries in my work. And it is work… so, that makes many movies unrelaxing… I know I miss a lot. But we cope the way we can…

And I’m working at keeping my eyes wide open where I am.

Profundity aside, there’s nothing like a great big fluffy, musical to make me happy. Meryl Streep AND Tracy Ullman. Bring it. It’s still a troubling line that Johnny Depp played, especially since they chose to make the child so young… add a younger wolf, and it wouldn’t have been quite so creepy. And they killed the Goddess… which has bothered me ever since I saw it on stage… Yes I know, I have to see that stuff…

But it sure was fun! Popcorn, a good friend who giggles and a bunch of people I know, and more I don’t, laughing in the audience. Some days, the Joy is all the Peace you need for a day. Everyone needs days to just fill up on silliness and laughter! (Keeping the Sabbath silly!) Peace, baby!

Seasonal, Musical Peace, llvl

There’s been all sorts of music for me this holiday season. From listening to the intricate, beautifully wrought (and sung!) choral music right down to the music making with my voice teacher in her living room. Learning something new, hearing something fabulous.

Last night at the Mitchell Musical Mash-Up, the kids were back from college and grad school. Ahhhhhhhhh. Music, music, music.

People used to sit around and sing. We don’t do that enough. It’s one of my secret joys in church. I love that I can burst into song in the middle of a sermon and everyone will join right in!

One of the sweetest things about these Winter holidays is the music. Take your choice: old beloved music, hoary chestnuts and new and interesting pieces being written; There are wonderful sacred pieces from many traditions and lovely secular favorites. They get played to death on the radio and in the malls and we know ‘way too many of them, even the ones we don’t like!

Singing matters. Singing helps. Having a season defined by song is a rich tradition… and it allows the meaning to deepen every year. We need traditions. We need songs. So, let’s make some memories. Let’s sing along. Let’s hear what our neighbors are singing… and why not sing a sleighing song tonight and have a rollicking good time? Laughing all the way might bring us a bit closer to Joy to the World and Peace on Earth. What more could we ask?

Celebrating Community Peace, llvl

My bro- and sis-in-law have the world’s blowout on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It’s huge. They spend weeks preparing and friends come by and help garden and generally spiff. Did I mention I have the world’s best bro- and sis-in-law? This marriage business has all sorts of benefits you don’t expect. Not just a great husband, but kids and a great family. Sold to the Priestess!

The all-important porta-potty arrives. Tents go up. Lights get strung. The fire gets laid.

Then people arrive in droves, carting in sound boards and mics. The world’s biggest beer ice chest gets filled. Missy Margaret’s fabulous redone antique cooler gets stocked with soda.

And we’re off. hundreds of people show up toting food and beverage, chairs, and instruments. savory food on these tables. dessert on that one. hotdogs outside on the grill. It’s a madhouse where no one gets mad. You rarely have a good long visit with anyone, unless you do.

Last year, i could barely show up because Deb was newly dead. This year, I was thrilled to be there and delighted that the woman who took Deb’s blood was hanging out. Three years ago we fretted that Than wouldn’t make it to the next party. This year… the party was bigger than ever and he was king of the hill… and that makes his world happy and grateful.

Not only was there no hurricane yesterday, the rain held off.

Living la vida local. Outside with good food and neighbors and music that was sometimes great, sometimes not… sometimes Peace is elusive. But sometimes Magic happens and Peace shows up right along the river with loads of laughing people… Peace… and today, i’m off for my last outdoor swim at the town pool… magic enough for me.

Gradual Peace, llvl

Building Community is a slow and gradual effort. It means making the effort to go to picnics in the park. It means showing up at the church yard sale and talking not only to the strangers but also to the people you know. It means hearing what’s right and what’s wrong in their lives. It means sharing the same. It means laughing at whatever nonsense occurs and soberly waiting for the hard news.

All in all, it’s a pretty amazing exercise.

And here’s the great thing, it makes life better. Building community is as much making life la vida local as is appreciating the local landscape.

Today I was thinking about it because I was working at the church yard sale. I ran into lots of my fellow members, no big surprise, but I ran into a whole bunch of people I knew from other places in my life. Nurses who cared for my parents, my 10th grade American History teacher, a woman who eats breakfast at the same diner that I do… someone I see when I go there, but we’ve never chatted. A dear friend that I never run into. It’s a rich and wonderful stew.

I’m an extrovert, so yard sales are overwhelming. Too many people and too much stuff. But hey, this contributes to my salary, so I’m going to be there. And it’s fabulous if tiring. And some people love doing this. Some love setting it up (some just do what they’re supposed to) and some love shopping (and some just hold purses!)

But all in all… it’s building community. And Building community is building Peace. And that? is a very good thing.

Serendipitous Peace, llvl

What are the odds. On the right street, at the right time. Just two minutes either way and my friends from six hours away would never have seen us walking into the parking lot behind the house. The two couples had met four years ago when Bengt and Titti came north to Lorraine and Kjell’s stuga to meet Steve and me. So much fun.

I hadn’t told any friends on the other side of Sweden I was coming. The travel is too much. Sweden is, after all a big country… and after the train problems I just described, It’s not as easy as it should be! And it all seemed pretty safe. It was not as if I was going to run into anyone, right?

But there we were. Off all the towns on all the streets, they had to have had lunch at that restaurant and finished at exactly the right time. Lorraine and I were just coming home from sending home a package and there they were. We jumped around a bit, hugged a lot and took them home for tea and coffee. We jammed a weekend’s worth of catching up on four years into an hour. We laughed. We cried. We hugged some more. And they got into their car and drove away.

It could not have been a sweeter encounter. And how serendipitous. Forty-five years of love, running into itself on a small street in a small town far away. This woman knew and loved my family and in that odd way of Exchange Students she is my family. Sometimes Peace is the sweetest of surprises!

Exchange Student Peace, llvl

I still remember the day I left and the day I came home. August 5. June 13. On either end, I spent two weeks with the other exchange students; the first two studying Swedish, the last two touring Europe. But in between, a life-changing year.

My world was changed beyond recognition. At seventeen, you assume the whole world is what you know. This was such a gentle way to understand how much bigger the world really is. My understanding of culture, politics, religion and love exploded and never fit back into the same box.

I was lucky, no doubt about that. The family was great. My Mama was a great second mama. And she was seasoned. She’d already sent one child off and had one child in. She’d send off 3 more. But we were a great fit. 40 years later I was privileged to do her memorial. Two of her girls, my Swedish sisters, would come to my wedding. And later to my sister’s memorial. Family was created and then it was nurtured.

And so the first part of my stay with them was at this summer house that I’m staying in now. Two of the sisters I met that first day were together yesterday. We went to lunch with my friend Lorraine. And we laughed. And ate. And looked at glorious scenery. And visited the garden where Mama’s and Papa’s ashes were interred.

These women have taught me to look for sisters and for friends in unlikely places. The boundaries between us were not large. But when you’re taking first steps, that’s a good thing… Peace is made up of small steps. Love and laughter and food ease the way. Beautiful views can help. So? off we go… more Peace. More Laughter. More Food. More glorious Nature!

Chocolate Cake Batter Peace, another llvl

Wherever you are life goes on. (it went on so quickly, I didn’t have time to write yesterday, first time in a long time!) I may be looking out over one of the prettiest harbors in the world, one that is far from my beloved coves on the Susquehanna, but put a two year in the kitchen with adults and an emptied bowl of chocolate cake batter, and it’s the same. Spoons out and dig in! So la vida local is always la vida even when the locale changes from place to place. It’s all about making memories, creating family and laughter and love!

So interesting to drop back into life after 6 years. My friend’s mother is gone now, I had hoped to see her once again — She said when I left the last time, “I will probably not see you again, but it was nice to have known you…” I’d hoped she was wrong, but… no. And my friend’s children, one with a child of his own, are fully functioning adults… and yet, it is life, it is the same, rich and sweet.

Fish and fish and fish. and sweet times. The wind’s blowing and it’s chilly, but still so beautiful. I’m a little cloudy still from too much sleep after too little, but I’ve been promised a brisk walk around the village to clear my head.

I’m always amazed that you can move so easily between lives… i guess i think the secret (for me, at least) is to remember that while their life is foreign to me, it’s local to them, so it’s about fitting myself in and not comparing, just enjoying. And the cake was as good cooked as battered… because cooked it had strawberries and cream… yep, the wonderful thing about this local life is that strawberries are just now coming into season! yay!

Peace be with us, Peace be with us all! Summer’s Peace. Peace of the laughter of small boys. Peace of dear, long-time friendships… Peace.

(I’ve promised to blog on another site here on sacredvillage, but not today, and maybe not tomorrow. getting my Sweden legs… and more importantly Sweden head… Jet lag takes me somewhere cloudy, indeed)

Peace, Peace, cha-cha-cha, llvl

Ah, it’s sweet to dance. Sometimes, I take my life for granted and then I remember, wait Steve Mitchell has my back beat! oh, yay! And I’ve got my good friend Sue who loves to dance, and so we do. Week after week. And then sometimes, one or the other of us is away and boom, we’re back in it. Welcome to living my wonderful little vida local!

Having been “the tall girl in class” I always had to lead anyway, so i got some practice there, and Sue’s a great follower — at least in dance. In other things she’s a heckuva leader!

And dancing is pretty completely disconnected from my brain in any conscious way… once in a while I’ll find myself saying, oh, try this… but that’s sorta it. Mostly it’s just rhythmic Joy — choreographed laughter.

How excited was I when my poet friend Tom wrote this? Very!

Good one today …
Everyday too
But this one’s
With cowbells

Cowbells and Peace. cha-cha-cha.

Balancing Peace, llvl

I suffer (and therefore so do you) from intensity overload. I have focus but it tends to be all consuming. But working on an issue or a problem is more than simply laser focus. It’s about the down moments not just the exhilaration.

Peace doesn’t get made without being able to laugh at the missteps… and the successes.

Peace (Life? Love?) is an experiment. So let us do the work, but let us be filled with wonder when things move in the right direction. Let’s not be afraid to fail, because our failures make us smarter. Peace isn’t all or nothing, it’s what you have to work with now.

Finding the balance. This is our one precious life. Spend it wisely… and have a whole lot of fun. Because things will go wrong, you will be sad, you will screw up, and the fun and the great Possibility are what will enable you to come back to the Work of Peace. Find your balance, the trail is steep…

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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